Sidley Adds Another Paul Weiss Private Equity Lawyer in New York

Sidley Austin is adding another partner from Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison as it continues its private equity expansion.

John Godfrey is joining Sidley’s M&A and practice equity practice as a partner in New York, the firm said Tuesday. Godfrey was a part of a Paul Weiss team that has worked with Apollo Global Management, Inc. and its funds on several transactions, among other deals.

Sidley, with Godfrey’s addition, has brought on a dozen lawyers from Paul Weiss over the last 10 months.

The hires include M&A and private equity partners Jeffrey Kochian, Gerald Brant, Brittany Harrison, and counsel Erika Cohen in New York. The firm also added Ramy Wahbeh, co-leader of Paul Weiss’ global private equity practice, and private equity partner Kaisa Kuusk in London.

“Sidley has an elite M&A and private equity platform,” said Godfrey in an interview. “For me, it’s a unique opportunity to help grow Sidley’s fantastic transactional platform while continuing to develop my own practice,” he said.

Godfrey has worked on public and private company sales and acquisitions for over a decade. He has experience in platform strategies, roll up strategies, divestitures, joint ventures, minority investments, and other complex transactions for private equity investors.

John Godfrey

Photo: Sidley Austin

He worked alongside other Paul Weiss lawyers advising Apollo in its all-cash acquisition of Univar Solutions, Inc. for $8.1 billion in March 2023. He was also a part of the team that advised a group of creditors of Digicel Limited and its subsidiaries in its financial restructuring of $3.8 billion in debt in January. Godfrey has also worked with the likes of Searchlight Capital, Qualtek, and Andretti Acquisition Corp.

Godfrey is a “first-class PE lawyer with a broad skill set and we think we can plug him in immediately on existing clients and he’ll help us chase new ones as well,” said Brian Fahrney, global co-leader of Sidley’s M&A and private equity practice group.

Sidley also has recently brought on David D’Urso, the head of Akin’s US private equity and mergers and acquisitions practice, and partner Elazar Guttman in its M&A and private equity practice.

Fahrney said the firm is continuing to look to build out where it can find talent in private equity and M&A in New York, California and other markets. “The project continues,” he said.